Death in Half-Assini Police cell – Family petitions IGP, A-G and Interior Minister for justice

The family of 48-year-old Assuah Buah whose mysterious death in police cells over a fortnight ago sparked violent reactions by the youth of Ekpu in the Half-Assini district, is asking the Inspector General of Police, the Attorney General and the Interior Minister to ensure justice.

The family says the police at Half Assini are peddling lies to cover their own culpability in the death of their son and want the IGP to “institute a thorough investigation into the circumstances leading to the untimely death of Mr. Assuah Buah.”

The police however claim the deceased death was caused by assault by inmates and have arraigned them before court.

But in a 14-paragraph petition issued Tuesday by lawyers of the family, Cardinal Law Group, the grieving family detail the unfortunate events leading to Assuah’s untimely death and concludes that the police, whom they blame for the death, “are not telling the truth.”

“Our instructions are that in the evening of that fateful Tuesday, the wife went to the police station around 4pm to present food to the deceased but the police kept asking her to wait. She waited in obedience for about an hour when she realised that a person completely wrapped with a cloth was being whisked into a waiting van; she could sense that the person being carried was dead; little did she know that it was her husband. In the final analysis, the police did not allow her to give the food to her husband so she returned without even seeing the deceased. The wife then went to tell the family members that the police had prevented her from seeing her husband and had even refused to allow her to serve him any food. Within the same period, some family members also went to the police station ostensibly to visit the deceased; it was at this time that they received some intelligence that the deceased had passed away. “

“Our clients have cause to believe that the deceased was beaten to death by the police officers, and not the inmates. We are inclined to agree with them. We know that the cell in the station is so close to the charge office that any little disturbance therein will not escape the attention of even the busiest officer on duty. We state therefore that even if it is assumed that the inmates were responsible for the assault which led to the death of the deceased, then we pray that the relevant police officers should be arrested and charged for criminal negligence. Indeed we dare say that they are not worth their name and title as police officers!!! We ask again: why did the police not intervene when the assault was going on in the cells, assuming that is true? Our position is even strengthened by the fact that the police were reluctant to even inform the wife that the deceased had passed away. Why did the police keep mute about it from Tuesday when the incident happened until Wednesday? Why did the police lie to the people that the deceased was sick and had been rushed to the hospital? We have also heard that the police are telling the inmates to assume responsibility for the death of the deceased with the promise that they would intervene to get the courts to be lenient with them.”

“It is our respectful submission that the police are not telling the truth. On the basis of the facts recounted above, we have our client’s instructions to pray that you may be pleased to institute a thorough investigation into the circumstances leading to the untimely death of Mr. Assuah Buah.

“By copy of this letter, we are also praying that the Attorney-General and the Minister for Interior to intervene and take the appropriate action in this case.”

Part of the conclusions of the postmortem on Assuah

Assuah’s death in cells sparked violent reactions by the youth of Ekpu who attacked the Half-Assini police station and assaulted officers and caused damage to police records.

The police on Tuesday conducted a swoop on the community, arresting about 50 residents for screening and possible prosecution for overrunning the police station.